AIDS-related virus spreads through kissing. “A form

of the herpes virus that causes an

AIDS-related skin cancer appears to

spread through kissing. Herpes virus 8 was discovered six years

ago and causes a skin cancer called

Kaposi’s sarcoma. In the United States,

the cancer occurs almost exclusively in

people with AIDS.” Researchers from the University of Washington have demonstrated that gay men infected with herpes 8 shed the virus far more often and at much higher concentrations in saliva than in anal or genital secretions. The implication, that oral-to-oral contact can be the route of transmission, needs further research confirmation. The obvious public health concern is that kissing is largely ignored in “safe sex” protocols. Transmission via the oral route makes sense when you realize the similarity between herpes 8 and the Epstein Barr virus, another herpes virus whose oral spread causes mononucleosis (“the kissing disease”) and which has been implicated in a malignancy of its own, Burkitt’s lymphoma. AP